UPDATE 1-Ukraine PM threatens private gas firms over debts

* PM says private suppliers owe Naftogaz $1 bln

* A new state entity could take over private firms' job

* Ukraine to pay similar Russian gas price next year

(Adds new comments from Tymoshenko)

By Natalya Zinets

KIEV, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Monday threatened to take away business licenses from local private gas suppliers if they fail to pay their bills to state energy firm Naftogaz by the end of December.

Tymoshenko said these firms, created in the 1990s and acting essentially as regional intermediaries between Naftogaz and its clients, owe 8 billion hryvnias ($1 billion) to the state energy firm, which itself struggles to pay for Russian gas imports.

"There will be no more private local gas firms because with such indebtedness that we have -- almost 8 billion hryvnias -- we cannot say that private entities work efficiently," Tymoshenko told regional governors. "The private entities are destructive," she said.